Accra: The Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana and the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) have announced plans to stage a landmark rally in Accra on August 29, 2025. They are also demanding debt cancellation and trade justice for Africa.
According to Ghana News Agency, the rally, dubbed Africa Rises, will bring together workers, civil society groups, and political leaders under a unified call to end what organisers describe as 'unjust debt and exploitative trade systems' that continue to drain Africa's wealth. Speaking ahead of the event, Mr. Joshua Ansah, Secretary General of the TUC, said Africa's sovereign debt crisis had reached alarming proportions, leaving governments with impossible choices.
'Today, seven African countries spend more on debt interest than on education, and 25 spend more on debt than on health. The bleeding of Africa must stop,' he declared. Africa's total debt is estimated at USD 2.14 trillion, with 22 countries at high risk of distress and four, including Ghana who is already in default. Campaigners point to the continent's net annual loss of USD 41 billion, as illicit financial flows and profit repatriation outweigh loans, aid, and remittances combined.
'This is not just an economic crisis, it is a matter of justice and sovereignty. Our resources must serve our people, not creditors,' Mr. Ansah stressed. The rally will begin at Obra Spot and end at Independence Square, where participants will deliver petitions to policymakers. Symbolic acts, including a chain-breaking ceremony, will dramatise Africa's liberation from what unions describe as 'neo-colonial shackles of debt.'
Ghana's Vice President, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, is expected to join workers and citizens in the march, a move organisers say signals political leadership and continental resolve to confront the crisis. Beyond debt, the rally will also focus on trade justice. While the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) promises to boost intra-African trade by 50%, unions warn that without enforceable labour and social protections, the pact risks reproducing inequality.
'Trade must deliver decent jobs, not just GDP growth. We refuse a race to the bottom where workers pay the price for liberalisation,' ITUC-Africa noted in its statement. Organisers are calling for labour unions to be formally included in AfCFTA protocols and for labour and social clauses to be integrated into its governance structures.
'This rally is a defining moment for Africa's economic future, it is a continental campaign and a global message,' Mr. Ansah added.
